Until Siyana Comes

For Dreamers and their Shadows

7:84 am - Dawn

"Flusteration of dawn!" someone shouted.

     I opened my sleep-filled eyes to a pale early morning sky. Along the horizon, just above the trees and distant mountains, was the pink glow of dawn. The air smelled dew fresh.

     "Notice anything?" said the same someone.

     A shadow Gelert was lying on his back in a sleeping back next to mine. It wasn't bright enough to see his face. He had his front legs behind his head.

     "It's beautiful up here," I replied.

     "Anything else?"

     "It's dawn."

     "Anything else?" he asked one more time, drawling on the first syllable.

     I thought hard for a moment. We were camping in a clearing in the forest. The pit fire had burned out, leaving a blackened hole in the ground. We were snug in our sleeping bags in our tent. And it's a beautiful day.

     "Um, no," I replied.

     "Where is our tent?!" he shouted.

     Where was our tent? Hmm. On to other things.

8:10 am - Breakfast

     The Gelert sung, "Mushrooms brown, mushrooms red, mushrooms down and overhead!"

     He was picking some plump purple mushrooms.

     "Mushrooms are yummy," I said automatically.

     "Mushrooms are disgusting," the Gelert said. "Blahwahwahwah!"

     He tossed the mushrooms up into the air and danced around a tree. He spotted the stream.

     "Fishies! I like fishies. Let's go catch fishies."

     He licked his lips. "Fishies for breakfast! Red fish! Blue fish! Me and you fish!"

     He bounded out of sight.

     I came up behind him. The smell of stream water was breathtaking. He was sitting on the bank.

     "Hold my paw. We go into the water." He held out his paw. "Pleeeeaaaase!"

     I took his paw and we walked into the water. I looked down and saw a red Zafara. I am a red Zafara. He splashed around.

     "Silver fishie!"

     He chased it. He ran upstream.

     "Wait for me!" I shouted, but I don't think he heard me.

     I ran after him and caught a silver fish.

8:62 am - Breakfast... still

     "This broccoli is good," my Gelert companion said.

     "Hm?" I wondered.

     I turned away from my fish. He bit into a hardboiled egg and squished it around in his mouth. It slipped out, but he didn't seem to notice. He ate the rest of the egg.

8:54 am - After Breakfast

     "Where are we?" I asked my friend.

     Even with the eerie glow from the spine vines, I could barely see his black fur in the dark shadows.

     "Daaarigaaan Dungeooon," he moaned like a ghost. "Weeteetee Teeheehee!"

     The furious clink of shackles and quick shuffling feet echoed down the dungeon corridors. We turned another corner. There was a large draconian Grarrl dressed in heavy, black armor. He struck iron bars with a metal club.

     "Settle down in there!" he shouted.

     "Hi!" my Gelert friend shouted, trotting up to the Grarrl.

     "No! Why did you do that?" I wanted to shout. We shouldn't be here!

     "What are you doing here?" the Grarrl asked gruffly.

     I spurted out, "We were just leaving. Honest!" but I don't think he heard me.

     "Spies!" he shouted.

     He raised his club high over his head. I closed my eyes and brought my arms up to shield me from the blow.

9:142 am - Midmorning

     "Bouncy bounce!" the shadow Gelert shouted.

     Light music drifted through the air, riding on a refreshing breeze. The Gelert twirled gracefully on one leg.

     "Let's go for a ride!"

     "Hm-mm," I replied.

     I paid the Blumaroo in the red-and-white pinstripe vest for two.

     "Fish for free!" the Blumaroo said.

     We got on. I sat on the green Uni. He sat on the cloud one.

     "You can't catch me!" he teased. "Neh neh!"

10:24 am - Midmorning. I think.

     "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey!" someone shouted in friendly greeting.

     The shout from above echoed in the mountains. I looked up. The crisp white cusp of snow was bright against the clear blue sky. A shadow Gelert popped his head over the edge.

     "Come on up!" he said.

     The rock wall in front of me was sheer. I could see my reflection in the well-polished stone. The wind picked up, and it started to snow.

     "Up one-neh," he moaned.

     How? The rock was smooth. I peered into the blackness. There were little cracks, crags, a roughness to the surface. Vertigo. I climbed up the face, using wrinkles as footholds.

11:45 am - Lunch

     I waved my hands and caught another silver fish. It tasted like marshmallows. It tastes like gummy worms. It will taste like chocolate snow. The green was tree.

     "Chirka chirka chirka!"

     I turned. There was a blue Xweetok.

     "Hee hee hee," he laughed.

     I ate my chocolate snow fish.

     "Come onnn. Jurples!"

     The blue Xweetok disappeared. There was a shadow Gelert.

12:06 pm - After Lunch

     "Yum yum. Let's do it again."

     He pointed to a snowcapped mountain in the distance. So many good memories from there.

     "Naw. I'm tired. Loolooloo."

     "Hehe. You funny."

     We dropped onto the grass with our backs to the ground. The sky was bright. The sun was near the middle of the sky, but it wasn't there.

     Hm.

13:22 pm - After Nap

     Sand everywhere below the horizon. The sky was blue. A beautiful, beautiful blue. I loved that blue. It was so beautiful. It reminds me of home, family, that very first very beautiful blue when you're happy like a little kid. Just happy.

     A little yellow Gelert was playing in the sand. He sifted the sand with his paws. Letting it fall between the gaps into a small anthill of sand. "Will you help me find him?"

     "Who?"

     "You already forgot him." Tears well in his eyes. It hits the sand and freezes. Not into ice. It just stops. A drop of water teetering on the mound of sand.

     "Do you want your brother?"

     His face lit up. "You remember! Where is he? Where he go?"

     "He's on the grass. Taking a nap. I'll take you to him."

     I held out my hand to him. He took it. We turned around and walked into the grassy meadow behind me. In the grass were a red Zafara and a shadow Gelert, lying with their backs to ground. Their eyes were closed. There was a gentle snoring. The sun was high. It was shining brightly.

2:06 pm - After Lunch Snack.

     We found fresh Fishberries, and decided to stop for an after-lunch snack. The fleshy, fruity berry was quenching.

     "Mmm, mushrooms."

     I smiled. It's good to smile.

     We finished our berries. He tossed a stem at me. I threw a handful at him. Cherry pits littered the grass. In the distance was the caw of a gull. I turned around to look at the ocean. There was a sailboat.

     "We should go sailing," I said.

     He didn't answer. I turned around. He was swinging from the lowest branch of the cherry tree.

     "I'm a Mynci! Whoo-oo ah-ah."

     "Man on the bowsprit!"

     "This be the yard, me hearty. Thar be yer bowsprit!"

     He pointed to the second trunk that grew from the bottom of the cherry tree. I grabbed a long, thin stick from the ground.

     "Arr, ye scurvy dog! En garde!"

     Our swords clashed several times before I struck him in the knee.

     "Avast! Me magical knee!"

     He clutched it and fell to ground.

3:15 om - Three-and-a-half pi radians short

     "Where are we?" I asked in a bored voice as I rested my head on the cold, wooden table.

     "Math class," the Gelert replied.

     Boring. There was a chalk drawing of a cherry with a hole on the board. We have those?

     "Where's the door?"

     "I on wo," he ummled.

     Something crashed into the wall. I looked up but everything was so blurry. Sleep is nice.

-4:05 pm - déjà vu

     "What are you doing here?" the Grarrl asked gruffly.

     This time he did not wait for a reply. He lifted his club and swung. I held up my arms to block the attack.

5:55 pm - Dinner

     "Gather 'round the willow trees. Dance 'round the fire," sang the yellow Kyrii. "Oh dance and dance, hop 'round like Cybunnies in the briar."

     He strummed his banjo. His hat seemed to come alive on his head

     My Gelert friend was dancing around the fire. I sat and watched him.

     "Touch the stars with your feet. Reach your toes to the sky."

     He stood on his front legs and tried to touch the stars with his feet. It was hilarious.

     "Loose those bones. Stretch your arms. Stretch your tails high."

     Insects buzzed around the fire as it crackled. I leapt into the fire and disappeared onto the ocean.

6:00 pm - Half-midnight

     Rafting on the open ocean was freeing. I opened up the blue and green and white umbrella and set it up in the middle to block the sun's rays. I lay there, gently rocked by the waves. The light was sunlight was fading. It was a day at the beach.

     Hm.

     "Where'd you go?"

     I looked up lazily at the umbrella. A shadow Gelert head popped up from the other side.

     "Went for a swim."

     "You know. If we turn this around, this can be our sailboat."

     He pulled back on the umbrella and it turned into a blue, green, and white striped sail.

     "You're silly, you know that?"

     "Eh oh I win ode."

     "You ummle like it's nothing."

     "I on wo."

     We continued to drift, pulled along by the breeze.

6:42 pm - Dusk

     "So goes another day," my Gelert friend said.

     "Mm-hmm."

     He was lying next to me on the raft, face up at the darkening sky. The first star appeared.

     "Beta Faunae. Alpha Fyorae. Altadoris Major. Lupus Minor. Chiad. Scorchius II."

     He named each star as he counted them off. I dozed to sleep.

7:45:31 am NST - 13th of Storing

     I woke up. The morning sunlight filtered through the silky, floral curtains. I looked around and spotted the white box on my desk. I got up and forced my still-sleepy body to walk toward my desk. I flipped over the tag on the red bow. "Another Smile for You."

     Hm.

     I sat in my chair and took out a sheet of floral stationary and a blue Blumaroo pencil. At the top, under the twining stems of two Snap Draiks were the words: "No one Remembers a Shadow." I started writing, "Haven't written you in a while..."

The End